'Pride of Yorkshire' hospital celebrates 150 years
BBCFirst there were elephants, then bears and now it's time for the lions.
Sheffield Children's Hospital has unveiled its latest animal sculpture trail which will become South Yorkshire's biggest public art event.
There will be 150 lions, lionesses and cubs on display throughout the region to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sheffield Children's Foundation Trust.
Cheryl Davidson, project lead for the Pride of Yorkshire, said: "Our anniversary is in 2026 and this is going to be a massive celebration. We really want to showcase the hospital is the pride of Yorkshire and because of that we're going bigger and better this time with the sculpture trail."
The lions – dubbed the Pride of Yorkshire - will be on display across the region next summer following in the footsteps of the Herd of Sheffield and the Bears of Sheffield, which together raised more than £1.5m for Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity.
Each lion sculpture will be sponsored by businesses, then auctioned off at the end of the trail with a fundraising target of £2.8m for Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity.
More than 400 artists applied to decorate the lions, lionesses and cubs and 60 have been commissioned to transform them into unique pieces of art.
The line-up includes Pete McKee, Peachzz (aka Megan Russell), a Sheffield street artist who earned a top spot in an international competition with her mural at Pounds Park, and Kid Acne (aka Ed Bradbury).
Ms Davidson said: "In 2016 we did the Herd of Sheffield then in 2021 it was the Bears of Sheffield and they created such a buzz, so many people took them to their heart.
"The other sculpture projects were based on animals that represented the city so we had Lizzie the elephant, then we had the Botanical Gardens bear.
"We really tried to think what would represent South Yorkshire this time around and as we're celebrating the anniversary of the hospital and we are proud of Sheffield Children's in the region we thought what better way to celebrate than a pride of lions."
In addition to the150 lions and lionesses painted by artists another 150 lion cubs will be designed and painted by schools and community groups.
Previous sculpture trails were limited to Sheffield but this time, they will also be dotted around Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster.
Liah Edwardes is one of the artists and already runs workshops for patients and staff at the hospital.
"I run dog life drawing and this is something that I've done at the Children's Hospital with their therapy dogs and so I thought it would be lovely to do a design based around the therapy dogs," she said.
"I've gone for very bold and simple design with high pigment blue and yellow. I draw in a continuous line so they're simple line drawings."
Artist Jonathan Wilkinson was involved with the previous two art trails and was keen to apply again.
"I'm an illustrator, primarily painting and digital painting, doing urban landscapes and buildings with a tinge of nostalgia.
"This project is more of an imaginary landscape because the shape and contours of the lion and lioness demanded a slightly different approach.
"It's more of a mysterious landscape that features recognisable buildings and motifs, a bit of a greatest hits of Sheffield.
"It's hand painted which is nice because I don't always get to do that but with a kind of punchy Looney Tunes illustrative look."
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